Sex Trafficking

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Human trafficking is defined as “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.” (1) While human trafficking can encompass many things, we want to share some statistics for domestic sex trafficking (2):
244,000 - the number of children estimated to be at risk for sexual exploitation100,000 - the estimated number of youth being prostituted in the United States400 - the number of adolescents working the streets of Las Vegas in just one month13 - the average age of a child to be pulled into sex trafficking1 in 3 - the ratio of child to adult trafficking...

In Portland, a team of volunteers are meeting for a group run. They have committed to raise money and awareness in order to offer tangible resources to people who have been sex trafficked, and those working in the adult industry. All of them have busy schedules and plenty of commitments, and they could have used another couple of hours of sleep, but it’s a small sacrifice of time and effort for something they believe in. They know every dollar they raise is making a difference.
In Las Vegas a woman is lacing up her running shoes and stretching. She has a half-marathon coming up in October, and she’s ready to tackle a five mile training run. Running and fundraising are hard for her, but...

The Cupcake Girls serves individuals across all realms of sex work, and while many adult entertainers choose their profession, we’ve seen an alarming increase over the past few years in the number of our clients who are victims of sex trafficking. Based on self-reporting (i.e. the real numbers are likely even higher), as of the end of 2015, approximately 20% of our clients were actively being sex trafficked, or had been at one time.
According to the U.S. Department of State, human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry behind illegal drugs and arms trade, and the figures are alarming:
20-30 million people are currently being trafficked worldwide600,000 to 800,000...

The Cupcake Girls has never been a political organization…we walk a narrow path between organizations who seek to rescue and those who fight sex worker rights battles. We were created out of a desire to assist with the many needs in the adult entertainment community. We continually strive to meet those needs in a tangible way, without agenda, and with a heart of love and humility. We offer resources, respect, and relationships to the community we serve.
That said, we have identified a very real legal need among survivors of sex trafficking: the ability to vacate criminal trespassing and loitering charges, which required a political remedy. Often, when someone has been arrested for...